Irish referendum on same-sex marriage begins

London, May 22: People in Ireland on Friday cast their votes in a referendum on legalising same-***** marriage, a media report said. The referendum was held 22 years after Ireland decriminalised homosexuality, BBC reported. According to sources, over 3.2 million people are expected to cast their votes on whether they want to amend the country's constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. and will shut at 10 p.m. and the counting will start on Saturday morning. In 2010, the government enacted civil partnership legislation, which provided legal recognition for gay couples. But there are some important differences between civil partnership and marriage, the critical one being that marriage is protected in the constitution while civil partnership is not.